Closure
by HowlingDarkness95
Summary: A whimsical phone call to the one person who had remained apart from the mess that was the Accords was the best decision Tony ever made since he signed the damn file. SPOILERS FOR CACW
**Hey guys! So, of course, Civil War is out, and I've watched it 3 times already. Honestly, #teamironman for me! I've mentioned before that I didn't really like Cap, but CACW just made me dislike him even more. There aren't really spoilers for the movie, not explicitly anyway, but I'll put a warning just in case.**

 **IMPORTANT TO NOTE: This story is basically an AU of an AU. It's set in the 'World verse in the sense that Percy is a SHIELD agent who eventually got dragged into the Avengers' shenanigans and as you all know, got together with Loki. That's the pretext for this story, but it is in NO WAY related to the main story arc. This is just me writing an AU of my own AU because damn it, Tony Stark NEEDS a hug. And a friend. So I gave Percy to him.**

 **ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: PLEASE don't think that this is the sequel to FWOSLTW! This is NOT the sequel, it's a oneshot based on CACW.**

 **Disclaimer: If I owned Marvel, Tony would be wrapped in rolls of blankets and I'll never let him out of the house. Ever. And duh, do I look like I just published the Trials of Apollo?**

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Percy was finishing up an op in Korea when the call came in. He considered the phone for a second. There were only three people in the world who would know how to contact him. Two of those knew he was on an op – had been the ones to send him there in the first place, so that left only one person.

"Stark," Percy greeted, casually surveying the abandoned warehouse he had broken into, "What can I do for you?"

"How did you forgive Loki for killing your mum?"

Percy startled to a stop, his breath hitching unintentionally. He sucked in a breath, the question blindsiding him completely. The demigod curled his fingers around his phone, the tech creaking ominously under his grip before he uncurled his fingers, taking several deep breaths. After a few minutes of silence, in which Tony never spoke – a fact that caused stirrings of worry in his gut – he replied, hoping his voice was as even as he wanted it to be. "Why are you asking me that?"

The other side of the line remained silent, and Percy cocked his head, hearing the man's shaky breaths. "Tony?" he asked worriedly, "Where are you?"

A huff, then, "Doesn't matter, I shouldn't have called."

Percy frowned, "Tony? _Tony_!" he shouted, but the line clicked off. The agent stared at his phone, worry bubbling up in him. It wasn't like the genius to act like that, and frankly, it was so uncharacteristic of Tony Stark that it left Percy wondering what had happened. He knew about the Accords – of course he did, his primary source of news was Fury – and he knew the disagreements the team had about said Accords even if he didn't know the full details. But that wasn't reason for Tony to call him, and definitely reason for the man to ask that kind of question. Steeling himself, Percy pushed down the memories that Tony's question had dredged up, and fished around his pockets for a drachma. With a thought, he created a spray of water, allowing the liquid to catch the light. He threw the drachma in and waited.

"Hey Hazel," he greeted, "Do you mind if I borrow Arion?"

Tony dragged a hand through his hair, staring blankly at the assorted weapons in front of him. He had dove straight into the workshop after his call, guilt burning further through him at having thrown the worst question he could ever have thought of at the kid. He slapped his forehead, what kind of question was that? He didn't even have the excuse of being drunk when he called the kid, only that he had been drowning in his thoughts when it occurred to him that Percy had gone through the same thing. Still, he wondered what the hell was wrong with him that he could even blurt out such an insensitive question to the one person who was still uninvolved with the Avengers. He didn't even know why he called the kid. Percy had no connection to the Avengers (that was a lie, they all had a soft spot for the kid they fought with) officially, and Tony didn't even think about asking the kid for help during the whole Barnes fiasco. (He didn't want to know if the kid would join Cap's side) The inventor sighed and rubbed his face tiredly, feeling exhaustion creep into his very bones. Vaguely, he wondered how long he had been awake for. He instructed FRIDAY to save the designs he had been working on and locked the lab behind him. Taking the stairs up, he slowly emerged above ground, stopping short when his plans for heading to bed flew out the window.

Of all the things for him to see in the Avengers facility at nine in the morning, Percy Jackson making pancakes was definitely _not_ one of them. Tony stared flabbergasted for several minutes before he found his tongue. "What the – how did you – weren't you in Korea just last night?"

Percy just rolled his eyes at him, "I travel fast." He deadpanned, flicking his eyes back to his pancakes. He flipped the pancake, adding yet another one to the stack that was already piled up on the plate beside him. The electric stove switched off when the pancakes were all out of the pan and Percy brought the pancakes around to the table, snagging another plate while he did so. He divided the stack, pushing one plate of pancakes to Tony, who was still standing by the bar in shock.

Percy rolled his eyes and sat at the bar, gesturing at the food, "Come on, FRIDAY told me you haven't been eating."

That snapped the genius out of his stupor, making him scowl at the ceiling before he all but collapsed into the seat. Percy eyed him worriedly, but said nothing, waiting until the other man actually took a bite.

They ate in silence for a while, until Tony couldn't take it anymore and spoke up, "Why are you here?"

Percy raised an eyebrow and swallowed the mouthful he was chewing, "Well," he said dryly, "When someone calls me in the middle of an op asking about my mother, I tend to react."

Tony flushed, looking away guiltily, something so unlike him that it made Percy place his fork down, his tone turning somber, "Look Tony, I'm not blaming you for asking me about my mum, I just want to know what happened to make you ask that."

The billionaire just sighed, propping both arms on the table, his eyes fixed on his plate. "I didn't mean to call you." He said softly, "It was just something I did on a whim."

It was Percy's turn to sigh. "Tony, if you really did it on a whim, I'd boil your blood from the inside out and laugh while you suffered." He took note of the minute flinch and blustered on, "But I know you Tony, and I know that even if you called me on a whim, something _had_ to happen to make you call me in the middle of the night to ask me about the one topic you know I never talk about. You may be a jerk sometimes and insensitive as fuck occasionally but you know where to draw the line." Percy sat back, "So, what happened?"

Tony licked his lips, trying to sort out his thoughts, he probably had to tell Percy – the kid definitely had a right to know since he dropped the bomb on the agent like that.

"And no, I'm not asking because I think I have a right to know."

Tony's head snapped up, "What, you became a mind reader in Korea?" He snarked.

Percy rolled his eyes, "I wish," he snorted, resting his cheek on his palm, "but no, your thoughts are written all over your face." He leaned forward, oceanic eyes boring into chestnut, "If you don't want to tell me, its fine, but I'm here if you need me."

Tony closed his eyes against the all too familiar words, trying to push the pain in his heart away. "No, it's not that – I just," he paused, struggling to find the right words, "I don't know how to say it."

Percy offered him an encouraging smile, "Take your time Tony."

Tony ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath. He looked away from Percy, his tongue tripping over the words before they started pouring out. Tony told him about Barnes, about the Accords, about Siberia and about his parents. White hot anger lanced through him as he recounted the events, his eyes burning as he remembered his mother's pleas and screams, remembered her breath being cut off, the sounds of her choking haunting his nightmares. The rage he felt towards Steve came rushing back. He growled, practically spitting fire as he told Percy about how Steve had known – he'd _known_ about his parents and he'd kept silent. All through it, Percy sat quietly, not interrupting Tony until the man was done.

"How did you do it?" Tony asked tiredly, feeling utterly broken inside, "How did you forgive Loki for killing your mum?"

Percy swallowed the old ache, words turning over in his head. "I didn't." He said at last, "Not at first." He felt Tony's shock, and flicked his eyes up to the ceiling thoughtfully.

"I hated him at first. Especially since it was pretty obvious who lead the invasion then, and adding to the fact that I knew more about the Norse than the average person did." Percy smirked, drawing a similar watered-down expression from Stark. The raven tapped lightly on the table, "Even when I found out the whole story, I didn't stop being angry. If anything, I became angrier. Because it seemed like my reason for being angry was taken away from me, like I couldn't stay mad at the person when he was a victim too."

Percy pinned Tony with a knowing look, "That doesn't mean that you don't have a right to be angry."

Tony scoffed, "Believe me, I am. I can't even think about Siberia without wanting to punch something." The genius slumped, looking utterly drained, "A part of me knows that Barnes was brainwashed by HYDRA but the rest of me..." He trailed off.

Percy smiled sadly, "He's still the one who killed her."

Tony closed his eyes and nodded, thinking of the countless times he woke up screaming in these past few days alone. He had taken years to get over the fact that his parents were dead, that he'd never gotten to say goodbye to them, or tell them how much he loved them. And now to find out that they'd been brutally murdered?

"I can get over the fact that we were split down the middle. I can get over the fact that Steve didn't agree with the Accords even though I wish he did. But I can't –" Tony broke off, choking slightly, "I can't even _think_ about forgetting how he lied to me."

Percy looked at the genius sadly. It was obvious how torn up the man was from what happened, and while Percy didn't know the full story, he knew that Tony didn't deserve to be all alone in a place too big, filled with memories and no one to stop his destructive tendencies. Whatever the media was saying about Tony Stark (and they were saying plenty), all Percy could see was a broken man who had lost everything.

"I won't even try to tell you what you should do, because I believe you're more than capable of deciding what to do with the captain and the rest." Percy inhaled sharply, "But I want you to promise me something Tony." He waited until the other looked up at him, then continued, "I want you to promise me not to get lost in vengeance. I want you to promise me that you won't cling onto this grudge until it destroys you from the inside out."

"So you want me to forgive them." Tony said flatly, his hands curling into fists.

Percy shook his head, "No. Only you can decide whether they deserve your forgiveness or not. I've seen what happens when people let vengeance consume them, and it wasn't pretty." Percy glanced out at the open field, his gaze turning distant, "The war I was in lasted four years and did nothing but destroy trust and friendships. The gods didn't care what happened to us as long as we won, but the people we were fighting?" Percy laughed humorlessly, "Those were our friends, our brothers and sisters. We killed each other and in the end, all that was left were ashes."

Percy pinned Tony with a look, the inventor looking slightly stunned, "I don't want you to go down that path Tony. Take your time, figure out what needs to be done, but _don't_ let hate rule you."

And what could the genius say to that? Tony had expected a preaching, to forgive and forget, but Percy hadn't done that. The kid had told him that it was alright to hurt, that he wasn't wrong for feeling betrayed. Tony wondered what he did to deserve this kid, who picked up Tony's call and traveled across the globe in a few hours just because he was worried about the genius. Tony felt warmth curl in his chest, wondering absently if he even deserved such a person. Rhodey had left to return home, citing his need for family even as he reassured Tony that he didn't blame the genius. Tony knew better. Rhodey may not blame him, but the Tony reminded the Colonel of everything that had happened, and the need to get away from the reminders was great enough that Tony let his best friend go. The billionaire didn't even know where Vision went, the android got up and left one day and never came back. Tony didn't have the heart to hold him back either.

Tony pushed the food around his plate absently.

"Do you need to check in with your boss?" _Can you stay?_ He asked suddenly, startling the younger man.

Percy heard the question for what it truly was and replied, shrugging carelessly, "Nah, I can just call him. Can I borrow some clothes? And a shower? I haven't bathed in ages." _I'm not going anywhere._

For the first time since Siberia, Tony cracked a small genuine smile.

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 **That's a wrap! I hope you guys enjoyed this, it's a really short piece to appease my homicidal urges to hurt anyone who hurt Tony. But yeah, I don't know if I'll ever do another oneshot in this AU of an AU, so this remains a really short oneshot now.**

 **Please leave a review on your way out!**


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